ROSE

Naturally, I had to get the worst sleep ever.

Throughout the night, I was plagued by a series of nightmares, all relating to the prophecy.

My first nightmare began with me in a purple cave, icicles and shards hanging from the ceiling. In front of me was a plethora of slim rock pillars laid out sporadically across the cave, all leading to the exit. Horrifyingly enough, I was standing on the top of one of the rock pillars, meaning I was many miles above ground. Add on to that, my resentment and fear of icicles and this whole ordeal is strong horror movie material.

I began slowly jumping from pillar to pillar, trying my best not to fall off into my doom and keep balance. It definitely didn't help that every time I jumped onto a pillar, it would wobble beneath me. There were about a million pillars that I had to go through to reach the exit, further adding to the difficulty of getting across the cave.

As I kept going, I began getting the hang of it, no longer fearing the wobble of the pillars or the fact that I might fall and die. The pattern I fell into when jumping pillar to pillar was one similar to the one Kai had advised me to use when climbing up the rock wall at camp. Once you figure out the pattern and have gotten properly adjusted, it's smooth sailing.

But, just as I had reached the last pillar, the pillar wobbled too much for me to handle and I fell all the way down into the black abyss of the cave. I tried screaming, but my shriek of terror got caught in my throat as I descended at a much faster pace.

The dream shifted. I was in a dark cavern, where jagged rock pillars hung from the ceiling and stabbed out from the ground. This time though, I was with Kai, which filled me with hope. That hope quickly went out the window though when I saw what was in front of us.

A large group of eight-foot tall giants carrying baseball bats and stone swords surrounded us. They had pointy yellow teeth and wore leather armor underneath their basic white tank tops. Their arms and lower legs were heavily tattooed, making them look like any stereotypical band of thugs you'd see in a TV show.

These creatures are known as Laistrygonian giants and they served under both Gaea and Kronos in the last major demigod wars. They are some of the most menacing creatures ever recorded and the feeling I got facing them down was very reflective of that statement.

Despite this, we were able to take down a few of the giants in good time, but after a short while, we had gotten completely overwhelmed. Giants swarmed us from all sides and cornered us, seemingly popping out of nowhere to demolish us.

It seemed like there was no hope left for either of us when the giants were suddenly slayed by a large stream of fire, dissolving into dust on impact.

Kai was panting very hard, sweat drizzling down his chin like a waterfall. His eyes were glazed as his body shook immensely.

"Kai, are you good?"

After another heavy breath, he passed out on the floor.

I fell to his side. "Kai? Kai, wake up!"

No response. I tried shaking his shoulders, calling his name loudly into his eardrum. I even tried slapping him hard on the cheeks. He still hadn't woken up.

Tears began to form in the brims of my eyes. "Kai! Kai, please wake up. Wake up!"

After fifteen seconds of pleading and begging, Kai's eyes suddenly opened. But his eyes were a blinding white as opposed to the deep brown eyes I had gotten so accustomed to seeing. He sat up, staring at me intensely and twisting his head to the side.

"Rose, you failed me," Kai said flatly and in a hollow voice. "I died because of you. You didn't protect me. This is all your fault."

I began to break down as white-eyed Kai continued belittling me.

"You think of yourself as a hero? You're the furthest from one."

"How many lives have been lost since your arrival to camp? Countless campers from the battle against Ares, your dear friend Arthur, Marianne, and now me. All of this is on you."

"STOP!" I yelled, interrupting him from his onslaught of jibes.

The dream ended and I awakened, drenched in sweat and panting heavily.

What were those dreams trying to tell me? Was it telling me about the impending quest, with the Kai dream about me failing to save him and me falling into darkness' midst, or was it something entirely different?

I didn't have time to worry about this, especially because this was the first day of our quest and I needed to be in the right frame of mind.

I got out of my bunk and got ready for the day, trying to process what had just happened. When I finished dressing up and getting everything prepared, I began helping clean up the cabin for our daily cabin inspection. I figured I'd at least help my fellow half-siblings one last time before I met my doom at the hands of Erebos.

Having seen that all the general cleaning spots had been covered, with Oliver and Drew on couch duty and arguing like an old married couple, Millicent organizing our living room space, Devon vacuuming around while going on a passionate rant about West Ham, and Violetta dusting our tables, I went over to help wash the dishes with Lou Ellen, who seemed irked and distracted with something else.

"Good morning, Lou. How's your day been so far?" I asked, trying to make some casual conversation. I grabbed a dirty plate that smelled of expired tuna and began scrubbing each and every corner before passing it off to Lou Ellen.

"I'm doing fine, Rose," Lou Ellen muttered.

She ignored what I gave her and began washing another dish, not making eye contact with me and instead focusing on the task at hand.

"Are you... good?" I asked.

Lou Ellen passed me another dish, practically shoving it into my hands. "As I said, I'm perfectly fine."

I narrowed my eyes. Yeah, no. She was definitely lying. Something was very clearly wrong.

Her behavior only affirmed my initial suspicions about her being irritated, which I brought up when I asked, "Are you sure? You seem kind of annoyed."

She handed me another dish and gave me a slight nod in response to my question.

She then walked away, heading towards the dinner table without even saying goodbye.

I groaned. Lou Ellen and I had problems in the past before, but they had mostly smoothed over since then. Now, she was giving me the cold shoulder all over again. What had happened?

I was determined to find out.

I followed her to the dinner table. "Don't lie to me. I can very clearly tell that you're annoyed at me."

Lou Ellen snorted. "Why would I be annoyed at you?"

"Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out."

After a few seconds of silence, my annoyance peaked.

"Out with it already! Why are you mad at me?"

Lou Ellen slammed her hand on the table. "Gods, do you have to be this annoying?"

Oliver walked up to us nervously. "Um, what's happening here?"

Before I could respond, Lou Ellen stuck her hand in Oliver's face. "None of your business, Oliver. Rose, a word alone outside."

We walked out of the Hecate cabin, the other Hecate cabin members looking at us with a mixture of confusion, intrigue, and worry.

"Well?" I asked Lou Ellen, the two of us standing on a long rock trail that led into the cabin.

"You want to know why I'm mad?" Lou Ellen asked.

"Uh, yeah! What do you think?"

"Because once again, you're in the spotlight!"

I gritted my teeth. "I thought we were over this! What ever happened to 'being the best version of myself'?"

"Well, we were, until once again, my job as head counselor was undermined by a newbie," Lou Ellen said. "What's the point in trying to be the best version of yourself when you're not even allowed to do your job?"

"What job? The job of being jealous?"

Lou Ellen scowled. "No, the job I have and the one you don't! I'm the head counselor. I should be leading this quest, not you!"

"This is exactly why Chiron didn't pick you! You let your jealousy and impatience get in the way of being a competent leader."

Lou Ellen's face turned cherry red. That was a hundred percent the wrong thing to say. She thrusted her hands forward, knocking me back with a gust of wind.

In retrospect, I should've walked away or tried to resolve the argument. But, in the moment, my anger got in the way of any sort of common sense.

I got back up and snapped my fingers, thinking of the incantation Glacies Trabem. A straight beam of ice hit Lou Ellen in the chest, knocking her down on the floor. Ice dripped off her body and melted quickly in the hot summer sun.

Lou Ellen got up and began conjuring a large fireball in her hands. Just as she fired it, a wave of water cleared her attack away.

Oliver and the other Hecate cabin members were outside the Hecate cabin.

"You two need to stop!" Oliver shouted, a heavy pant accompanying his words. "Just chill out, okay? Lou, we need you to help us with the cabin inspection. Rose, go ahead and eat some breakfast. You have a long day ahead of you."

Lou Ellen gave me one last glare before heading inside the Hecate Cabin. I muttered an Ancient Greek curse under my breath before turning my attention to the dining pavilion for breakfast. My friends were waiting for me so we could discuss our strategy for the quest.

As I pathed to the pavilion by walking along the rock trails, I punted a few pebbles in sheer frustration.

Some leader Lou Ellen was. Oliver showed more competent leadership with that last thing he said than Lou did in my whole time here at camp.

But what did I expect? The second attention gets steered away from her, she throws a hissy fit. Just three months ago, she revealed my team's Capture the Flag strategy to the other side out of spite, publicly groaned about my inclusion on the quest to capture the four masks of Olympus, and then gave me a half-hearted apology that, given our current predicament, meant absolutely nothing in the long run.

But… that wasn't all I was mad about. What angered me more was the notion that maybe Lou Ellen was right. That I'm way out of line and shouldn't be learning in the first place. Hell, even I had thought I wasn't prepared for this massive responsibility, even thinking so multiple times during my meeting with Chiron and almost turning down his proposition because of this.

I bumped straight into a six-foot tall Ares cabin member, distracting me from my thoughts as I realized I had arrived at the pavilion. She shoved past me and said something along the lines of "Aye, watch where you're going".

Sheesh. Ares campers, so quick to aggression when even the slightest of inconveniences occur.

I ventured further into the pavilion, scanning the venue for my friends and quickly finding them.

One of the few positives of my day so far, Geneva was sitting with us for the first time in a month, which almost confirmed the idea that she was going on the quest with us.

"Hey, Rose!" Amethyst greeted.

I waved back and sat next to her. "Hey."

I grabbed a Belgian waffle and some chocolate milk from the nature spirits and began digging in.

I couldn't stop replaying the argument in my head as I grappled with whether Lou maybe had a point. After all, I'd be pretty triggered if someone beneath my status got a higher ranking role than me in a project, especially a 'project' that carried so much potential fun and adventure with it. The difference is I'd keep my annoyance to myself instead of groaning about it publicly and additionally, I wouldn't treat that person any differently.

"Rose?" Kai asked.

I blinked. "Yeah?"

Kai furrowed his brow. "What's up with you? You seem a little on edge."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one thing, you just completely missed Kai and Geneva calling your name three times, your hair is super messy - which in fairness, it usually is but that's besides the point - and you have dirt stains on your elbows and T-shirt," Alexander observed. "Something is very wrong, according to nine of the ten cells in my brain."

I wanted to reply to his claim about my hair but instead focused my efforts on crafting a good response. In other words, coming up with a fib to get my friends off my back. Last thing I needed was for them to figure out about Lou Ellen and worry them further.

"Nothing's wrong," I lied.

The four of them all stared at me with their eyes raised.

"Fine. I... got into an argument with Lou Ellen."

Kai nodded. "That seems more like it."

"So, what happened?" Geneva asked.

I summarized the entire conversation and argument I had with her, including the small fight that broke out between us.

Alexander and Kai shook their heads.

"Jeez that girl is uptight," Kai said.

Alexander bobbed his head up and down in agreement. "She really is."

The two of them clinked glasses together and slurped down their beverages rather loudly.

"I think it was good of you to call her out for how she was acting, even if a fight broke out," Geneva said.

Amethyst nodded. "I agree with Geneva. A camp counselor should never act so immature and childish, especially when it pertains to one of their cabin mates being granted a great honor."

"Thanks for the support, guys," I said. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Amethyst replied. "Now about the quest. Based on the prophecy Rose got from Rachel, we have eight days to bring back the Mist."

"Which just coincidentally happens to be the day of the summer solstice," Kai added.

The summer solstice was the seasonal meeting of the gods where they discussed all kinds of matter. It's said that on that day and the winter solstice at the other end of the year, Olympus is at its strongest. Given that news, the quest seemed more and more like it had something to do with Hecate, since she was recently added onto the council for the solstice, alongside countless other gods and goddesses.

Amethyst nodded. "So that's our deadline. We also know that our end goal is Athens, the capital of Greece and where Erebos is going to rise."

"Which would fit the second line and the last lines," Geneva added. "'To the place where the gods once used to feast' and 'Darkness rises through Athen's spire'."

"I bet they had some epic feasts in Greece," Alexander said dreamily. "Probably had skateboards involved in some way. Skateboards are tight!"

"Choosing to ignore what you just said, do we actually know anything about what Erebos is doing?" I asked.

Amethyst nodded and began digging through her backpack. As she finally grabbed what she wanted to find, I braced myself, knowing full well what Amethyst was about to pull out.

After a few seconds of closing my eyes, I gradually reopened them and prepared for the worst. Kai seemed to have had the same idea as me, as I spotted him reopening his eyes slowly to see what Amethyst had.

Surprisingly, Amethyst had just brought out a newspaper labeled 'Olympus Weekly'.

I sighed in relief. I was not in the mood for my eyes to be blinded by her intensely bright, glitter filled binder.

"Here in the announcements section, it says that the Muses are playing in Maine the next two days. Maybe we can go there and see if they'll lend us any info?" Amethyst suggested.

Alexander nodded. "That's a good idea." He turned to Kai. "Maybe they'll even give us matching gaming headphones that are skateboard themed!"

Kai grinned in delight.

I was glad to see he wasn't full-on depressed after I told him about the prophecy, though this was the same guy who, despite knowing his imminent death to his curse, still made jokes and stayed positive. I respected him for trying to be the most optimistic he could, not letting even death get in the way of his positive attitude. It is truly commendable how he deals with such situations.

As for me, I wasn't so sure. I mean, I may have acted like I was fine around my friends, but that was because they didn't know. Though Kai now knows of his fate, no one knows about my impending death. I really didn't know how to feel about the whole situation or how to solve it, only made worse after my quarrel with Lou Ellen as it gave me yet another thing to think about, but all I knew is that I had to keep up the fake persona around my friends. It was for their safety, right?

"It is a good idea, but does it say where they're playing specifically?" Geneva asked.

Amethyst turned the newspaper over a few times. "No, it does not. Don't worry though. We'll know it's a Muses concert based on their songs. I've heard their music appeals to demigods more so than regular mortals."

"We can take our chances," I decided. "So, first thing we do: head to the Muses concert in Maine. From there, we can make our way to Greece."

"Cool," Kai said. "So, I guess this discussion is done."

"Wait, when's Oman arriving?" Alexander asked.

Amethyst made a 'tsk' sound with her mouth. "Chiron said he got held up doing something. He said he'll be here in a few hours."

The four of us groaned.

"Dang," Kai muttered. "What'd he get held up with, a crabman on his ship?"

Alexander chuckled. "Maybe he thought he saw vampire pelicans and freaked out."

"Probably." Kai chuckled. "Man will claim he saw anything on his ship no matter how ridiculous the claim is. It's pretty comedical."

The two boys continued joking around and laughing as they left the dining pavilion together, them exiting the pavilion spelling the end of our conversation.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later," I said.

I waved goodbye to Geneva and Amethyst before leaving the pavilion.

For the next couple of hours, I just went through my schedule. I made a little time in between courses to head back to the Hecate cabin and pack my stuff for the quest. Thankfully, no one was inside. I had no desire to speak to any of my half-siblings after what happened with Lou Ellen - especially because some of them were ardent loyalists and would give me flack for 'disrespecting her authority'.

I headed to my room and packed some clothes, along with ambrosia squares, a canteen of nectar, a spellbook containing a few basic spells, a few golden drachma for Iris messages, and my trusty daggers, Merlin and Marianne. Weighing Marianne in my hand gave me a feeling of grief for my fallen half-sister.

Few days went by where I didn't think about her and just how badly I missed her presence. Especially now, where the family I have at camp are at an absolute low and are fighting with one another.

Y'know, maybe I'd get to see Marianne and my father again after I inevitably die within the next eight days alongside Kai. Though it seems messed up to say, that reality doesn't actually seem so bad, one where I get to reunite with my true family while still being able to mess around with Kai every now and again.

I ran into Oliver on my way out of the cabin. To my surprise, he didn't mention or bring up what happened between Lou Ellen and I and instead just wished me good luck on the quest before bidding me farewell.

After a few hours of waiting and going through my schedule, a member from the Hermes cabin tapped me on the back and said, "Hey, your ride is here."

I thanked them before heading to Zephyros Beach, where Oman had picked us up three months ago for our last quest. When I got to the beach, Kai was upfront and waiting for me with my friends in the distance.

"Rose, you have to see Oman's new ship," Kai said with excitement, practically bouncing off the ground in joy.

"It can't be any better than his last couple of vehic-" I looked beyond Kai and saw exactly what he was raving about.

Laying in the river just in front of the beach was a large ship with a sleek, red-and-brown color scheme. In the front of the ship, there was a large, golden dragon head that connected to the sides of the ship. On the main deck, there was a staircase that led into the bottom deck as well as a large mast where the sails hung off of. At the very back of the ship was a two story cabin, with me being able to visibly see Oman at the wheel. On the side there was a large wing-shaped thruster that presumably helped move the ship forward in the air.

Oman spotted us and made his way down to the beach. Kai and I ran to meet him and stood alongside Amethyst, Alexander, and Geneva.

"Ah, Camp Half-Blood," he said woozily. "What a place."

"Where did you get this?" Amethyst asked excitedly.

"I've had it in construction for a few months. She's a real beauty, ain't she? And sorry about the delay. Had to go pick this girl up from a nearby docking port."

"Totally worth it," Alexander gleamed.

"Well, what are you waitin' for? We have some travelin' to do!" Oman said.

The five of us and Oman climbed aboard.

"Holy Zeus!" Amethyst exclaimed.

She excitedly ran down to the bottom deck, where I could audibly hear her fangirling over everything.

"Well, go on and join her!" Oman yelled.

The rest of us followed in after Amethyst and began to gasp at all the cool features.

Firstly, Oman had assigned us each a cabin with our specialized taste. Mine was near the end of the hallway, so I got a small glimpse of everyone else's rooms.

Kai's room had a major red color scheme and a TV hooked up to a PS3. Amethyst's room was painted purple, and had a huge library filled with books and supplies. Alexander's was orange in color and also contained a TV that apparently had 'all the channels' - a detail I knew only because Alexander kept bringing it up as I passed by. Geneva's room was probably the emptiest, with just a dresser, a mirror, and a box containing a large variety of make-up and other utensils, just how she liked it.

My room had a mainly black color scheme with a mini-fridge that had all my favorite foods and an entire shelf of chocolate milk cartons. I also, amazingly enough, had a loft bed with a desk and couch underneath, which was probably the best addition to my room. Other than all that, I had a small library containing a few books and a dresser. Overall, my room was pretty awesome.

Before I set down all of my things however, I wanted to get a better look of what the ship had. In front of my cabin was an empty room with a closed door. Out of curiosity, I opened it up and discovered a lightning-themed, platinum room with a dresser, a small desk and armchair, and a blue-and-yellow themed bed.

I assumed the room was Arthur's, but after hearing about Times Square, Oman had probably decided to close it up. Seeing the room made me feel a little down, as it brought up the tragic, sadness inducing memories of my old friend, so I decided to leave and resume looking around the ship.

Past our cabins was a large, wide room that had a training rack, some dummies, and some exercise equipment. I assumed that was our training room. Past that was a bathroom that had two sides - boy and girl. The room at the very end of the hallway contained a steel-barred jail cell with a small circular window on the wall to look through. Looking at it gave me a strange feeling, so I headed back to my cabin.

After a few minutes of admiring my room, Oman began talking through a speaker.

"Howdy, y'all! Welcome to BBB, the Big Boy Battleship! Now, from what one of y'all told me, our first destination is Maine! Prepare for liftoff!"

Out of all of Oman's names for his vehicles, this one was probably the worst.

I braced my stomach as the ship began flying upwards into the sky, heading towards Maine. I wasn't necessarily airsick, but the initial liftoff of a plane always made me a little queasy.

For the next thirty minutes or so, I messed around with my friends in the training place and ate my favorite foods. Those thirty minutes were so incredibly fun and enjoyable that I forgot almost entirely about the quest, the prophecy, Arthur, Marianne, and all the other bad stuff I'd been thinking about so much over the last few hours.

This feeling was shared by almost all of my friends, except Geneva who, understandably, didn't partake in any of the activities we did. Arthur's death had affected her far more than the rest of us, so I didn't blame her.

However, just as everything was going good, there had to be bad news.

"We have a slight delay, y'all. From what my map says, there's a pretty bad storm up ahead. I'm gonna have to circle around to avoid the storm," Oman announced.

Kai groaned. "Did somebody tell Zeus that his beard was too long or something? Or did a middle-aged woman turn him down for a friendly dance?"

Lightning boomed nearby and given that the storm wasn't supposed to be near us for a while, this likely came directly from the heavens.

"Careful, Kai," Amethyst warned, as she always did when Kai made a remark about Zeus. "Look, it's a slight delay. If all goes well, we'll be able to arrive in Maine pretty early tomorrow. And we still have seven more days to bring back the Mist. Just get a good sleep for tomorrow."

We all listened to her as we headed back to our cabins. Despite the fact that there was a storm nearby, I actually fell asleep pretty quickly, the low sound of the ship creaking surprisingly making me really drowsy.

But of course, just when I get a good sleep, I have nightmares.

As Kai would put it, lovely.